(no subject)

[oikade.livejournal.com]

Master Russian, a resource listed in the community profiles recommends trying The Passive Method to word memorization:

"Record 40 to 50 new Russian words with their translations. Listen to the recording as many times as possible at normal volume level. You don't need to pay any attention to what you hear. After a great deal of playbacks the words will be memorized of their own accord."

I'd really like to try this out. Even if I'm not able to memorize them "automatically" - it would help a lot to be able to listen to groups of words repeatedly, with their english translation. Does anyone know if there are any audio files like this available online - either for download or purchase?

question

[branwen.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I have some nice Russian tapes I ordered off ebay. They break down words into parts as to learn how to pronounce them better, and they explain things about the words and how/why they are used. One thing I came across, though, was the use of Russian titles "Mr." and "Mrs./Ms." as "Господин" and "Госпожа". My boyfriend, Lev, (who is from Uzbekistan, and speaks Russian--not Uzbek) says that this is ridiculous, and no one uses these words. His parents were also confused by these, and say they are not used. They said that Russians may call each other "товарищ" if they used a title at all, but never "Господин" or "Госпожа".
Any Russians out there with clarification? I would like to see what you all have to say, and get into a deeper discussion on this with my boyfriend and his family.
On another hand, Lev's cousin didn't think these titles were that strange, but still not too common in use.

Very Very new at Russian

[ritmann.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone. I would just like to introduce myself as I have just found out about this community on Live Journal.
i just started learning Russian about 8 months ago because i work with about 25 Russian speaking ice skaters and i am now dating one of them. I have no clue on how to read Russian at all, and only a very small vocabulary of things to say. (Mainly the basics of curse words, how to ask for a beer, and thing to flatter my girlfriend.)

I was wondering two things: First off, is there any advice that anyone can give me for learning conversational Russian.

And second: can someone give me a phonetic translation for "trouble maker" the best thing i could come up with is (and forgive my phonetic spelling) "problema" which i know means nothing like "trouble maker" it just means "trouble" ...it might help to know what i am looking for. This is an affectionate name that that my girlfriend and i call each other...so it is not meant in a harsh way.